About a month since I updated this properly, so a wee update.
I have being spending the last week doing my motorbike training – not quite the ordeal I had built it up to be! There are only 4 of us doing it, me and three volunteers from the Upper West Region, which makes for a good sized group. We spent the first day in a “field” (more of a dirt area – a Ghanaian field) practising going round and round in circles, speeding up, slowing down etc – just whatever we fancied really! The instructor is a local mechanic who was more supervising than actually teaching us. My bike had three falls on Monday – I, however, only had one! My bike (who is still looking for a name – suggestions on a postcard!) fell over onto the concrete somehow – I think perhaps I was leaning on it or something. The bike’s second fall was when I was on it – I miraculously leapt off and stayed standing while the poor bike fell over. Bike’s final fall of the day was a real “You’ve Been Framed” moment – I parked, attempted to put the stand on and thought I had succeeded, got off the bike, smiled smuggly at how well I had done... and Bike promptly fell over, knocking me to the ground too... if only we'd had a video camera.
We started day two practising in the field again, where I did two quite spectacular falls, both my own fault! We’d been warned about the sandy bits of ground but we had decided to practise on it! It was good to get used to falling in a safe environment where Cam and Aaron could come along and pick up the bike and I’d almost got the hang of it after several falls! We then rode to Bongo, a small town 15km from Bolga, mainly along a dirt track. The ride there was not so enjoyable – I found it hard to see/tell what was sand and what was just dirt road, so arrived a bit achy from sitting so still and rigid. The ride home was fine and I had no further falls in the morning! In the afternoon we went to Shiragu which is about 7km out of Bolga – only one fall on a sandy, stony slope.
Wednesday was spent at the DVLA. 7 hours, many games of I spy and hangman and most of a book later we left with our temporary Ghanaian driving licences – success!
Thursday was probably my best day so far = no falls! We went down a very long dirt track to Siragu and visited the Siragu women’s pottery centre (name….) we then went to Paga to see the sacred crocodiles, sit on the back of one and watch it being fed it a live chicken! After a nice lunch in Navrongo, we rode the 30km back to Bolga along a lovely tarmacked road!
On Friday we learned about bike maintenance and I can now safely say that I know more about how a motorbike works than I do a car! After a slightly hairy ride around town, including the tro tro park, I got to take my bike home, which was much easier and less scary than I imagined. Bike is now safely in the house waiting for it's first trip to work on Monday.
Anyone got any suggestions as to what to name my motorbike? Here are the suggestions so far – some are good, some are bad and some are absolutely ridiculous!
Cooper
Hullio
Macbike
Nessie Loch-bike
Lewis
Hamish
Haggis (notice a theme here)
Yoko Biko
I have being spending the last week doing my motorbike training – not quite the ordeal I had built it up to be! There are only 4 of us doing it, me and three volunteers from the Upper West Region, which makes for a good sized group. We spent the first day in a “field” (more of a dirt area – a Ghanaian field) practising going round and round in circles, speeding up, slowing down etc – just whatever we fancied really! The instructor is a local mechanic who was more supervising than actually teaching us. My bike had three falls on Monday – I, however, only had one! My bike (who is still looking for a name – suggestions on a postcard!) fell over onto the concrete somehow – I think perhaps I was leaning on it or something. The bike’s second fall was when I was on it – I miraculously leapt off and stayed standing while the poor bike fell over. Bike’s final fall of the day was a real “You’ve Been Framed” moment – I parked, attempted to put the stand on and thought I had succeeded, got off the bike, smiled smuggly at how well I had done... and Bike promptly fell over, knocking me to the ground too... if only we'd had a video camera.
We started day two practising in the field again, where I did two quite spectacular falls, both my own fault! We’d been warned about the sandy bits of ground but we had decided to practise on it! It was good to get used to falling in a safe environment where Cam and Aaron could come along and pick up the bike and I’d almost got the hang of it after several falls! We then rode to Bongo, a small town 15km from Bolga, mainly along a dirt track. The ride there was not so enjoyable – I found it hard to see/tell what was sand and what was just dirt road, so arrived a bit achy from sitting so still and rigid. The ride home was fine and I had no further falls in the morning! In the afternoon we went to Shiragu which is about 7km out of Bolga – only one fall on a sandy, stony slope.
Wednesday was spent at the DVLA. 7 hours, many games of I spy and hangman and most of a book later we left with our temporary Ghanaian driving licences – success!
Thursday was probably my best day so far = no falls! We went down a very long dirt track to Siragu and visited the Siragu women’s pottery centre (name….) we then went to Paga to see the sacred crocodiles, sit on the back of one and watch it being fed it a live chicken! After a nice lunch in Navrongo, we rode the 30km back to Bolga along a lovely tarmacked road!
On Friday we learned about bike maintenance and I can now safely say that I know more about how a motorbike works than I do a car! After a slightly hairy ride around town, including the tro tro park, I got to take my bike home, which was much easier and less scary than I imagined. Bike is now safely in the house waiting for it's first trip to work on Monday.
Anyone got any suggestions as to what to name my motorbike? Here are the suggestions so far – some are good, some are bad and some are absolutely ridiculous!
Cooper
Hullio
Macbike
Nessie Loch-bike
Lewis
Hamish
Haggis (notice a theme here)
Yoko Biko
Jon Bon Jovi
Na (Fra Fra for chief)
Shakira
Owlet
Dan
Any suggestions welcome... please, otherwise it’s going to get stuck with Yoko Biko forevermore!
Na (Fra Fra for chief)
Shakira
Owlet
Dan
Any suggestions welcome... please, otherwise it’s going to get stuck with Yoko Biko forevermore!
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